At this time last week there was reason to believe that a bout between Vergil Ortiz and Jaron 'Boots' Ennis was in play for the big card that would be taking place on February 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. By the time Thanksgiving leftovers were being served on Friday, this fight had flat-lined.
What happened?
The modern day boxing business.
Golden Boy Promotions, which handles Ortiz (22-0, 21 KOs) was under the impression that this bout was to have taken place at junior middleweight. In his most recent bout, Ortiz battled Serhii Bohachuk in one of the best fights of 2024 for the WBC 154-pound title.
Cris Esqueda/GBP
Meanwhile, Ennis (33-0, 29 KOs), the current IBF welteweight belt-holder, intimated after his last bout versus Kharen Chukhadzhian a few weeks ago that it might be time for him to move up after a relatively sluggish effort. Ennis has basically been a welterweight since he began his career in 2016.
A couple of years ago Ortiz and Ennis were highly regarded young welterweight contenders. There was never really any collision course because they were stuck behind the likes of Errol Spence and Terence Crawford who owned all the titles in the division for several years. As they circled each other for nearly a half-decade, the rest of the division was stuck in this logjam.
And this being boxing, there was no way that these guys were ever going to fight to just fight. Instead, they would gain number one rankings with the various sanctioning bodies, and then just waited around for Spence and Crawford to finally face one another (which they did last summer with Crawford handily defeating Spence in nine rounds), and/or move up.
Unfortunately for Ortiz, his body couldn't handle the wait --- and then eventually the weight. His last attempt to campaign at welterweight in the summer of 2023 ended up with him not being able to make it to the dance against Eimantas Stanionis. His last official contest as a welterweight took place in August of 2022.
He has since moved up junior middleweight, where he now has three victories.
As for Ennis, he was able to stick around, and was elevated to being the IBF champion after Terence Crawford decided to vacate, and then eventually move up in weight. 'Boots' is a highly regarded talent but to be frank, right now he does not have a real signature victory to his credit. You could say that his overall resume' is downright pedestrian. In his most recent victory Ennis got touched up a bit and led to speculation that it was time for him to migrate to junior middleweight.
In fact, that discussion was something he brought up in the immediate aftermath of his second victory over Chukhadzhian. Something that Ortiz's pugnacious manager points out.
So what changed? Eddie Hearn is now saying that Ennis will focus his attention on unifying the titles at 147. Currently, the other champions in the division are Mario Barrios (WBC), Brian Norman (WBO) and Stanionis (WBA). Those would all be pretty solid bouts, but none are really marquee bouts that would bring about a huge payday. The other question is could any of those fights be consummated given the politics that exist in the sport?
You could say that he's just mulling over his options. But there are others who are flat out accusing him of avoiding Ortiz. One of them is Hall-of Famer, Tim Bradley. He thinks Ennis serving up a big bowl of 'duck soup'.
Boots pretenders get exposed! Philly, not gangsta!
There will come a point in time, and maybe it's now, that Ennis can no longer just be lauded for passing the 'eye test' against B and C-level opposition. Yes, he's talented, but in all honesty he has not been tested all that much. Perhaps unifying a few belts, or becoming an undisputed champion at 147 would change that narrative. It will be up to Matchroom to deliver those opportunities.
Ortiz for all his past health issues, has a superior ledger of victories. It seemed as though he was fully on board with this assignment. He will still fight in February according to GBP president, Eric Gomez, but it will not be against Ennis. Meanwhile, Ennis is claiming to have never known about these recent talks.
It's a shame this fight isn't happening. Both Ortiz and Ennis are talented and entertaining fighters. Their respective styles mesh together well. And quite frankly, it's the type of match-up that we just don't get enough of on a consistent basis. Ennis is rated as the top welterweight by Ring Magazine, while Ortiz is rated fifth by Ring at junior middleweight.
Beyond that, both are undefeated and in their physical primes. Ennis is 27, while Ortiz is 26. But for the time being they will head in opposite directions with no guarantees that they will ever clash in the future.
I'm not saying that Ennis ducking. But I do know that it was Ortiz who was much more willing to do this fight in February.
FINAL FLURRIES
Galal Yafai dominated Sunny Edwards on Saturday for the WBC interim flyweight title. Edwards, who admitted to not wanting to even be in the ring, announced his retirement after the fight... Xander Zayas is now in consideration to face Ortiz in February....As it relates to Floyd Schofield possibly facing Shakur Stevenson, Gomez told SNAC.com, "It's being discussed. We were approached and we're looking into it."....The Tank Davis-Lamont Roach fight has been officially announced for March 1 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York....I can be reached at k9kim@yahoo.com....
